1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to security safes and vaults, and more particularly to a modular security safe or vault constructed of a plurality of interconnected panels, the security safe or vault having expandability characteristics by increasing the number of modular interconnected panels so as to increase the size of the safe or vault which increase in size can be accomplished in situ.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Security safes and vaults are used for a wide variety of protection. Security safes and vaults can be room size as in the case with many bank safes or vaults and can vary in size down to a wall safe utilized in homes and offices. The sizes and scales of such safes and vaults can vary widely between these two extremes. Applicant is the holder of a series of patents, U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,776 and a divisional and continuation-in-part applications which have matured into patents set forth above there from for modular safes which would typically be utilized at the smaller size end of the safe vault continuum. Applicant's module safes allow the safes or vaults to be assembled in situ and still provide superior security and integrity and weight to the typical smaller safes utilized heretofore which could be easily breached or in many instances completely removed from the premises for being breached.
Security safes for the household protection of valuables, currency storage at convenient stores, and other small security applications are in wide scale use. Typically, safes employed for such applications are much smaller and lighter than those used in banks and other high security situations. The need for the smaller and lighter design is to facilitate the delivery and placement of these safes in houses and buildings typically not designed to withstand the weight of a large safe (4000-6000 pounds) or the prohibitive size of the safe.
As a result, these lighter safes typically serve only as a deterrent to burglary attempts rather than a sophisticated defense against professional burglary.
In order to increase the security of small application security safes, efforts have been made to design modular safes which can be moved piece by piece to a location where it will be used and then assembled. The modular style safe allows for ease of transportation, but prevents such transportation once assembled. It also provides a higher degree of security than other small application safes which, in some instances, can be carried away from the location.
However, despite the increased weight of modular safes currently known, the very nature of the modular design reduces the security of such a safe in comparison to a one-piece cast safe. Up until now, modular security safes, by the very nature of being modular in design, have been ineffective in preventing attacks by professional burglars. While modular safes are an improvement upon previous minimum security safes which can be carried away or easily attacked, modular safes, while immobile, still are vulnerable at the points of connection between the plurality of components that make up the safe.
Accordingly, what is desirable and has not heretofore been developed, is a modular safe which has the desired benefits of immobility and strength, with the added advantages of being impervious to attack at the critical joints of the modular pieces.
Some of the numerous efforts to provide modular safes are as follows:
Quellette, U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,914, discloses a security device for boxes. The security device includes a cabinet device which has an open top section into which a bottom portion of the box which is to be secured is inserted into the upper inner portion of the cabinet device. The bottom base includes a locking device for securing the cabinet onto a supporting surface such as a floor.
Nikoden, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,935, discloses a case for securing valuables which includes a plurality of interconnected panels defining an interior space. The individual panels are readily transportable for convenient location and assembly; however, the case, once assembled, cannot be so readily moved from its location. Some of the panels employed include inside-facing surfaces and connectors such as threaded studs, while cooperating connectors such as openings for receiving the studs are defined by other panels, so that upon assembly of the respective panels, access to the connectors is available only from within the interior of the case. The device further discloses top and bottom panels which are interconnected to the side walls of the enclosure. The bottom panel is fitted with filler plates to eliminate any gaps along the bottom side edges of the case. It is further disclosed that said panels may be made of sheet metal, having 90 degree bends for forming the respective panel side edges. A double bend is then utilized for forming the respective lips which prevent access to the interconnecting bolts from the exterior of the security space.
Sands, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,948, discloses a vault constructed by assembling together a plurality of separate, pre-fabricated panels. Each perpendicular comer of the assembled vault is provided in a panel which extends integrally from the respective comer to define significant portions of both of the adjacent sides of the vault, thereby avoiding the security weakness of separate orthogonally-jointed panes at these comers. Each panel additionally comprises a steel plate upon which is cast a barrier material of high penetration resistance, but relatively low weight, fiber-reinforced concrete.
In one arrangement, there are four comer panels with two of said panels being interconnected by a uni-planar panel to define a first side of the assembled vault, and a space between the free edges of the other two said comer panels to define a door opening for the assembled vault on a second side thereof opposite to said first side. Said uni-planar panels also serve to provide as the top and bottom of the enclosed structure. These uni-planar panels can be inserted in multiple groups in order to form an increasingly large vault space. Except for the edges of the panels which define the door opening, each panel is formed around its edges to provide half lap joints which interfit with the corresponding formations on the neighboring panels. The overlapping joints, so-formed, insure accurate relative location of the panels and preclude the possibility of direct access being gained to the interior of the vault through the joints. All panel-to-panel connections are made internally, and none of the fixing is visible from the exterior of the vault. Each joint between adjacent comer and uni-planar panels is secured by means of a steel flitch plate which is welded along the vertical edge of one of the abutting panels and has a series of drillings which align with tapped holes along the vertical edge of the uni-planar panel, the screws being passed through the flitch plate and into the hole. Joints between the comer and rear panels and the floor and roof panels are similarly secured by steel angles which have a series of joints in each leg, which align with tapped holes along the adjacent horizontal edges of the panels, the screws being similarly passed through the angles and into the holes. In order for these joint angles to function as one structure, they must be welded together. The reinforced concrete layer of the panels is evenly distributed with randomly oriented masses of steel fibers providing a density in the range of 14,000 pounds per square inch.
Sands, et al, G.B. Patent No. 2,081,335, is the British counterpart to the above-described patent issued to Sands, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,948.
Stone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,874, discloses a prefabricated concrete vault with a plurality of concrete members having jointed overlapping connections with adjacent members with peripheral edges thereof having offset surfaces for each other across the seam of the joint to provide noncontinuous burglar-proof seams. In other words, in each of such joints, edge surfaces formed by the groove or rabbet-type overlap provide surfaces or edges which are offset from each other so that there is no straight-through seam or direct path of entry. A plurality of metal plates are anchored along the edges of the panels and are welded together to join the panels together.
While a minimum of exterior seams are visible, giving the appearance of a permanent-type installation, the weld plates, which are welded into position in order to hold the separate portions together can easily be released from each other merely by burning out the welds and the component parts can then be transported away from the site. The result is a security safe which is highly secure in nature, but at the same time highly transportable, if necessary.
Dippold, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,338, discloses a wall panel consisting of two units that can be interconnected with other panels engaging each other in a rabbet joint in which the projecting core layer parts are spacedly superimposed on each other to provide a burglar resistant connection between the panels which themselves are difficult to penetrate by burglar's tools.
Each of the rectangular panels is formed with rabbets in its four narrow, elongated-edge portions which extend between the major inner and outer faces of each panel. Rabbet joints connect several of the panels to form a continuous box structure when the door is closed. The box structure is covered by outer and inner cases of relatively thin sheet metal welded along the edges of the safe. Each of the panels is made up of a combination of sintered aluminum oxide and perforated sheet metal. For greater resistance to burglary, the core layers of adjacent wall panels overlap each other. The layer in one unit of each panel thus extends beyond the corresponding layer of the other unit in the direction of panel width or length by at least ¼ of the total panel thickness. The panels further consist of a third fiber-reinforced elastomeric material, such as natural or synthetic rubber, which fills the interstices between the particles in each shell, the perforations of the shell walls and partitions, and completely covers all faces of the shell in an approximately uniform layer.
Simmons, U.S. Pat. No. 470,017, discloses an improved safe which can be easily taken to pieces so that it can be easily carried in sections; thereby obviating the immense amount of time and labor usually required in moving a safe. After moving the safe, it can be easily and quickly built up again and placed in condition for use. The separate pieces are combined via V-shaped tongue and groove longitudinal edges. The bottom of the safe is provided with a deep groove socket in its upper surface, located near and parallel with the two sides and back of said bottom section or plate. This socket or seal is tapered downwardly or V-shaped in cross section and the longitudinal sides of the socket or seal are formed longitudinally irregular, as by a series of steps or rabbeted-out portions. The top plate or section of the safe is provided with a correspondingly similar socket or seal. The two sections of the body of the safe are formed at their outer edges with a tongue or projection, in length and in cross-section similar and corresponding to the two sockets, so that when the lower section of the body is placed in position, its tongue or tapered projection and lower edge will rest and fit snugly in the seal and the outer surfaces of the sections will be flush with the outer edges of the bottom plate.
Farrel, U.S. Pat. No. 328,113, discloses a fire-proof safe with an outer shell and frame of metal and an inner frame of fire resistant material such as calcined gypsum, and/or hydraulic cement.
Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 115,728, discloses a non-modular safe which can be progressively strengthened through the addition of additional thicknesses of steel or other type of metal plate to be safe.
Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 70,202, discloses a safe upon which angle-irons are secured to the inner series of plates by rivets or screws with the angle-irons occupying all of the corners of the interior of the safe. The interior series of plates are dove-tailed into each other, one or more dove-tails of one plate entered into dove-tailed mortises in the edges of the adjoining plate or plates.
Applicant has further developed the modular concept of safe or vault to include the ability to expand the safe or vault to a larger size utilizing the modular concept which would allow for an individual or entity having a safe or vault already installed of one particular size to be able to expand that safe or vault in situ, by utilizing additional modular panels and security devices such that the size of the safe or vault could be expanded in a geometric progression.
With Applicant's module and expandability characteristics, the time, expense and labor of moving and installing a safe or vault are obviated. Applicant's panels are limited to a weight of 200 pounds per panel and can allow for the installation and construction of a safe or vault without a third parties knowledge that a safe or vault has been installed. Still further, the modularity and expandability characteristics allow for the expansion of an existing safe or vault constructed of Applicant's modular panels to be accomplished without third parties knowledge of such expansion or existence of such safe or vault. This concept alone further heightens the security of the safe or vault. Since if no one knows of its existence except for the owner and the installer, no temptation exists to burglarize the safe or vault.
None of these efforts, taken either alone or in combination, teach or suggest all of the benefits and the utility of the present invention.